Thanks for all your hard work on these levels. You choose some unique color palates and there were several instances where the geometry was quite interesting! I found the first set of levels were broken on d1x-rebirth and kept crashing on levels 2 and 3. I tried to re-save them using DLE, but that didn't seem to help so I resorted to cheat codes in order to continue on. The boss level (5 or 6?) was a really neat.

However, from what I can tell, both sets of missions suffered from common mistakes in level design. They were rather cartoonish and didn't feel like a real place in the Descent Universe. Also, too many large spaces. It's nice to have contrast, but when you spend a majority of time flying back and forth through emptiness it really kills the excitement. There were too many puzzles, and the puzzles had too many variables, which again, kills the excitement. Finally, too many gimmicky traps (such as a bot exploding into a dozen other bots or massless walls with instant death behind them).

Unfortunately I couldn't stay engaged enough to finish either mission set completely and found myself cheat-warping to levels just to see what they looked like before becoming disappointed and moving on. What started out as a better and average design quickly turned into tedium, which is too bad because it looks like there are a couple dozen levels?

That said, I understand how difficult it is to make levels, especially without good feedback from smart pilots, so please don't be offended by my criticism. I'm deeply critical of my own levels and hate them quite a bit!

This post may have been edited by moderators for content and delivery.

I didn't get to fly through all of them yet, but I did take a quick look at each of the levels in the editor. Some of the levels had a bit of a "new designer" feel to them with an awful lot of 20x20x20 cubes, but some had areas that are extremely well-crafted and look more like the mark of a veteran cuber. "Mask of the Red Spiders" and "Ropo" from the first set come to mind in particular. Other levels like Set 1 Secret Level 3 had great themes with the pipeline running throughout, and even in some of the levels with more default cubes, there were some good attempts to make areas unique like the room with the checkerboarded floor and monitor pedestals in Set 1 Level 1.

I also think a lot of the levels were a tad too gimmicky in terms of puzzles or difficulty, and the texturing was a bit strange in some parts (too much of the ceiling and floor matching the walls, for instance), but definitely the best trait of these levels is that you can clearly make some incredible architecture if you put your mind to it. I feel like I could stand to learn a bit from you about crafting those kinds of structures.

First, Thanks to both of you guys for checking these out.
Let's see.....where do I start? I should talk about my experience with DLE-XP first. When I first discovered that there was a level editor for my all time favorite game I was very, very excited. I was bound and determined to make use of it. When I first started using it I felt as if I was the only one using it. I found numerous bugs in it. You can see this by doing a search for "reetus" on DBB and all the threads are still there. Me discovering a bug.... posting it.... Deidel telling me to give him more information as to how the error was occuring.... Me telling him I wouldn't know an .INI file from any other file. But at the end of most of the threads Diedel ended up saying "fixed". It was a little bumpy at first but it came along. It was my new passion. I spent all my time making levels. I spent about 3 years making these missions and this is as good as it gets, from me anyway.
I did attempt to make a reetus3 using D2 but I could not get it to work. I started a level and every time I would try to run it I would get the error message "cannot find fire.pig" or "cannot find ice.pig". I tried removing all Descent folders from my machine and restarting from scratch but I could not get it work. I figured three years playing with this thing was enough.
I would also search for D1 levels where ever I could find them. I would download and play all of them. Some of them were very impressive and I still stay that mine here can compete with the good ones. Of course I love them, I made them. But I really do think these are worth a run through anyway.
Which brings me to my Descent creation philosophy.... These are "add-ons". I wouldn't attempt to reinvent the game itself. Why make missions that start out with a minimum amount of weapons and ammo? Why start with just the red laser and battling lifters and one blue key on your first level? That has been done by the creators of the game. I consider these to pick up where the original Descent left off.
Which brings me to my missions. You asked about a couple dozen levels? These are two missions both constructed the same way. Eighteen levels each, fifteen standard levels with three secret levels. Three sets of five actually with secret levels scattered throughout. You said you liked the boss level on one of them I think you are referring to "Final Arena" on reetus1. Deidel liked that one too. My favorite is level 15 on reetus2. A Bucky Ball made from square segements? It took a long time to figure out how to make that!
Anyway that's all I can say to defend/promote/sell my amateur levels. I like to think there's going to be someone out there who enjoys them.
Edit: Oh yeah, one more thing vision referred to... The level that sometimes crashes is "Up From The Deep". For some reason I could not get it to stop periodically crashing! I tried everything. I even went so far as to rebuild the whole damn thing! DLE-XP reported no bugs and I cannot imagine why it crashes every now and then.

Like the others have said - there are some hallmarks of a beginner mapper and weird design decisions here and there, but there are also moments of sheer brilliance. I especially loved the boss arenas from Serega and Final Arena, they were sweet. And the final one with the football-like structure? I'm not even going to ask how you did that without the aid of some external program. Amazing.

reetus wrote:
I did attempt to make a reetus3 using D2 but I could not get it to work. I started a level and every time I would try to run it I would get the error message "cannot find fire.pig" or "cannot find ice.pig"...

Did you try manually setting these in the "preferences" tab?
You might also try getting Infinite Abyss (I think that's what it's called) for D2, as it includes an editor called "DMB2" (along with Descent II: Vertigo). DMB2 doesn't have as many of the same controls as DLE, but it tends to work better when handling files and the like.

I think the problem was my folder was a huge mess. I am really an amateur when it comes to computer stuff and over the years I had downloaded stuff from dbb including 3d models and extracted them to the wrong folder. My Descent folder was a mess. I even went so far as to copy the fire and ice pig into every single folder and still it said it couldn't find it. What I think I needed was a completely fresh install starting with the patches and everything and then it might have worked. I don't have much free time these days but when I get some and I get back into this, that is probably the route I will go.

You could also try (if you haven't) downloading D2X-XL or DXX-Rebirth (I recommend the former for gameplay and the latter for organizability). They both use a folder called "data" and you can put the specific files you need in there.

Warning! Don't make the same mistake I did and install them in the same folder.

I have always used D2-XL. The problem will probably be fixed when I do a fresh install. I haven't really had Descent installed on this computer yet and it's much better than the one I used to make these missions. I am betting everything works when I do that but any advice is appreciated as to what the original problem was.

I guess my attempts at convincing you that a fresh install is a bit excessive are futile...
Unless I'm hinting too subtly, of course

DLE doesn't need to be able to find where the files are. You do. If you know the location, go to the "preferences" tab and click "browse" next to the Descent 2 box. Find and load the file needed (Not "descent.pig"!) and click "apply". The next time you load a D2 level the file should be ready!

I don't have anything Descent related on this computer so it wouldn't be a fresh install it would be an initial install on this pc. The problem would occur after I finished creating a level for D2. When I would open my level in D2-XL is when I would get the "Could not find fire.pig" error. I had no problem working with DLE-XP and D2. The problem occurred when I would start the game. Unless that is what you are saying... The reason D2-XL couldn't find the fire.pig file is because I didn't have the right folder set in DLE-XP on the preferences tab? I wasn't kidding about being an amateur.

Playing Descent again and MAN has it ever changed from 3 or 4 years ago! Some things I like and some things I don't but it;s just because it's change and I don't think anyone likes change even when it's for the better, which I am sure it all is. The last time I played was on a PC about 1/10th as powerful as this one. It had a regular square monitor. VGA or something like that. Not really a tech guy at all.
I figured out some things regarding why I was having trouble with D2.... I noticed my fire, ice and water PIGs all had the extension ".256" which I changed to ".PIG" and then they loaded. I am betting this will allow me to create D2 levels. I stll get an error message when starting the game that says something about "Cannot find D2.msn" and something else. I don't see those files in my folders with incorrect extensions for me to rename but I might be able to figure it out. One thing at a time. Right now I am still working on configuring my joystick to get it back to the way I had it. That's how long it's been, I barely remember my configuration but it's coming back to me slowly. My old pilot profile only seemed to partially load.
But I put this message up to say I will most likely try to make some D2 levels and missions as I need a creative diversion to writing music all the time and I think Descent is going to be it! So, in about a year ,I am predicting, expect a reetus3 for D2, If you are interested.

I make electronic music but it's more avant-garde jazz type stuff. I looked around and couldn't find any links to any music in that section but I am assuming it is along the lines of Orbital etc. , which I really love, but I just don't think my kind of music would fit in there.

I designed one of my levels, reetus 2 level 2 around robots damage robots and it's gone now. Too bad, I was proud of that one and it is not nearly as good without it.

Nah, I'm taking absolutely anything, it doesn't have to fit into any specific type and I love electronic jazz.
That's only one of the threads for it anyway, over on Planetdescent I've got somebody submitting heavy guitar-rock and other things besides.

Read the submission rules in the thread first. Although I am willing to make exceptions it's best if everybody knows them.
They're mainly there to stop me from losing anybody's submissions since this phase could go on a while.
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In the meantime I'm adding you to the contributors list.

On a final note: If something seems odd in certain parts of these levels, these were made with a much older version of DLE-XP and D2-XL. The AI options were different. I think the option "robots damage robots" is no longer in effect on the new version of D2-XL. It played an important part in a few of these levels. There was an option called "station" in the robot AI options and it seemed to make the robots disperse and roam around. Detached segments did not flash as they do in the current version of D2-XL. But after a couple run-throughs they still hold up. Mostly.

I don't know why "robots damage robots" was ever an option to begin with -- I've seen medium hulks mistakenly kill drones and drillers in DOS D1 and the endboss is well known for obliterating his own robot spawns.
Station is still a robot AI option in DLE, and it still does the same.

I thought robots damage robots was great. Physics were starting to make more sense in the Descent world. Wouldn't it be great to be immune to the effects of your own concussion and mega missiles?...like the robots are. Not only that they have an unlimited supply of them. If I had that power I COULD RULE THE UNIVERSE!

2 things...And I don't know where else to make this request and I don't know if anyone will see it here:

I've been looking for a couple days now and I can't seem to find something that I found on here before, I am looking for the level "Glass House" and also...What kind of level is that, I mean D2-XL, XL or Descent 2? or rebirth or whatever.

And, I once downloaded a big zip file with a bunch of levels which is where I got the Glass House one from. I think it was set up by Deidel and I can't seem to find the damn thing again. It had Ironstar and all those levels on it. Any help or direction would be appreciated.

I believe Glasshouse is D2X-XL.
It's hosted on Karx's site http://www.descent2.de/index.html and it's on the sidebar under his levels/multiplayer.
I remember that big zip but not where I found it... if you explore all the mapping-related sections on the sidebar (level spotlight, his levels, etc) you should be able to find almost anything that was in it though.

Pretty sure robots damage each other by default and Karx took away the option to turn that off. It's hard to see when it happens on any difficulty lower than Ace because robot weapons do so much less damage than your own on the lower three except for vulcan drillers and fusion hulks. If you play on trainee, rookie, or even hotshot you may never notice it.
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If you're thinking like Doom with robots actively fighting each other if they happen to take a hit that never happened in any version of the game and there was never an option for it in D2X-XL.
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As for shooting down missiles, I think omega cannon may still do it by default but I haven't actually tested that the way I've tested robot damage. If it is still possible it will be only with omega cannon.

There are very few experts on D2X-XL left around this board, and I'm one of them. You might as well listen to me.

Not second guessing or soliciting second opinions. When I made my missions, which is what I am always referring to, I was using D2-XL 1.11.108.0

In that version I designed several levels around the fact that robots would damage other robots and I would play it on Hotshot. I have recently run through the missions I made a couple times and you can work around it.

I can tell you for sure that in current version 1.18.73. The robots do not damage each other at all. Reetus 2 level 2 relied heavily on them blowing each other up. Another one that is changed dramatically because of the removal of the "robots damage robots" tickbox is Reetus 2 level 10.

You could always shoot homing missile with the fusion gun. Until now. Remember, I haven't played in 4 years and I only play D1.

I could list a lot of things wrong with the game right here (as far as D1 goes) but I have encountered numerous problems and I have just given up. And I'm gonna shut up about it.

Maybe it's my machine, maybe I'm just a dumbass but I can't start screwing with this thing again.

My contribution to this project is going to stand as it is. If you are a fan of D1 then I think you can appreciate my work. I have subscribed to updates from sourceforge regarding new version releases. If and when I receive one in my email I will download it and try it.

But my point is.....several factors of the game that were around for a long time are gone now. I am not particularly fond of the way it is set up.

I'm not sure how (or even if) it works, and it would require you to directly modify the weapons, but it seems like there is a flag in the weapon properties that allows you to shoot the given weapon down. That being said, I can't get HAXMedit to modify anything in my current version (won't allow me to edit any .HAM because it assumes that all HAMs are the D2 HAM, and there is no whatsitcalled for weapons in the HXM properties), and thus I can't guarantee anything.